Productive Weekend.

So aside from breaking my favorite pen (dropped the fucking thing on it's nib, and bent the shit out of it, cost to fix: $55), I have actually gotten a lot done this weekend.

The dinner that I had on Saturday was a blast. Korean BBQ is one of the most fun "group meals" that I have ever been to. We went to Blue Ginger in Bellevue, which is a great Korean BBQ and Sushi restaurant. I would put it right up there with Benihana and The Melting Pot, when it comes to an entertaining group meal.

The part after the dinner... WOW. Good times, good times. I didn't really take pictures because I was just to busy having fun . We're throwing the exact same part in the next week, for Cinco de Mayo. The one pic that I did get is a good one. Thank God for bachelor pads. My buddy Chadwick's fridge and freezer. There is no food...


I installed Vista on my home computer. They had the OS on our work systems months ago, but I never got around to putting it on my home system. The 64 bit OS is really quite spectacular, and AERO is worth the hour it took to install it.


The new photos of the C Class for 2008 have been released, and I have to say that I am going to end up buying the new C63 AMG... The cars redesign is growing on me since I had seen the first spy photos months ago, and seeing a lot more photos and a lot more detail, I want one. 475 Horsepower, 465 LB/FT of Torque, and 100% BADASS!!! It's that or the new CLK 63 AMG Black Edition, which is also on of the most incredible machines that Mercedes Benz is actually bringing to the US. That one is going to be really limited though, and probably right up there with the E63 AMG, which will set you back about $95,000. A bit more than I want to spend.

And then there is the Popdrive. If you didn't click that link, you should, because this thing is really one of the coolest nerd gadgets ever. It's a combination 1GB Flash Drive, and Bottle Opener. I have bought one, and I am doing everything that I can to convince my company to buy a ton of them and imprint our logos on them. Wouldn't that be a really cool promo item to get from a beer rep? Of course, $30 a piece is a bit high for a giveaway, but I'm sure there is quite a margin in there that we could work on.

And so after all of that, I am going to bed. I am tired, it's 11:25PM, and I am seriously going to be working my ass off tomorrow just to get everything done in less than 12 hours.


UPDATE: No I am not going to bed, because Human Giant is on MTV, and I am laughing so hard I can't breathe...

Finally A Weekend

So after the absolute nightmare that was my week, a weekend has arrived, and I couldn't be happier. After 63 hours of work, nothing makes me feel better than sleep.

Well, maybe there are a few things in life that might put a bigger smile on my face...





But the first one is to expensive for now, and the other two are just fucking impossible :-). I think that I have a better chance of winning a Stanley Cup, than I do with Jessica Biel, though given her sports proclivities, the first may help the second... But I digress.

The problem with being so busy at work is that I spent the entire week working and getting nothing done in my life. So now all of those little maintenance issues around the house, and errand I had to run have piled up. So I have so much to do, and the last thing I want to do is "work" on anything. I want to sit around being a slacker and enjoy my weekend damn it!!!

Tonight I am throwing a ridiculous pre-Cinco de Mayo party, one week in advance of the actual thing exactly one week from today. It's going to be a trial run. So there are currently 15 cases of beer in my garage (waiting to go into the ice buckets later), a ton of tequila in my cabinet, and the best part is that I'm throwing this party at someone else's house!!! No morning after clean up for me...

So now I must go actually do something, and get to working on this list of shit that I ignored all week.

Interview

So Dave was interviewed on his blog a while ago, and I said that I would play along. So here are my five questions from Dave. If you want to play along to, simply request it in a comment on this post, and I will leave you five questions.

1- Do you think the 'Girls Gone Wild' dude should do jail time?

For tax evasion... Hell yes he should.


2- Can mediums really communicate with dead people?

They can communicate with people in a convincing enough manner to liberate the portraits of dead people from their wallets.


3- "My dad thought I would _____" ?

End up working with a computer engineering company. Probably his company. But for me, being a nerd is a hobby and not a job. He's done well for himself, and I think that I could have done well in the field myself. But it just wasn't the job for me.


4- "I don't know why they put _____ on teevee. I can't stand to watch that shit." ?

AMERICAN IDOL...


5- Why "Stormin' Mormon"?

It's the evolution of the nickname of "Stormin Norman" Schwarzkopf. Being a beer rep, I wouldn't be a very good Mormon. I'd be a Stormin Mormon. (We were all quite drunk when this evolved.) For the most part it gets chopped down to just "Stormin," but it is indeed my nickname in real life.

Just A Bit Of Work

So it's not that I am neglecting my blog. It's just that I am spending so much time at work that I have no clue what to do when I get home. So I sleep.

Given that I have been putting in 12 or more hours every day, sleep when I get home makes a bit of sense to me.

And this isn't permanent, just the sick consequence of my desire to do the best that I can in my new position. So I've spend ungodly amounts of time at each account, and I've done my best to have my people do the same. Not necessarily the same amount of time that I have been putting in, but enough...

We also have some new brands that we are working to bring out. Of course there are the usually Summer Seasonal beers that come out every year, but we have a few new breweries on board, and a few new beers from breweries that have been with us for years.


So that's where I've been and what I've been doing.

Don't worry Dave, I haven't forgotten about the interview.

The Food Pyramid...

Not so sure that is what the FDA has in mind, but it suits me just fine.



The All New Rockstar Pomegranate...

This stuff is delicious. This weekend we're going to have to mix it with some booze and make a new drink.

Friends and Ex's.

So I have to sit idly by right now, and watch a friend go through hell.

There's nothing that I can do to help.

There's nothing that I can say.

And everything that I do, probably makes her ex (another good friend) think of me as a traitor. Even though the hell she is going through right now has nothing to do with him, and I know that he would do anything in the world make it better, because he's still in love with her.

Sometimes life is just to weird for me...

Just Plain Busy

Holy Shit, I haven't written anything since Tuesday, and even that wasn't really a post of substance.

So I haven't been watching 24 for the entire time (though I am now in the third season, this shit is seriously good), but I have been working my MFing ass off trying to get everything done at work, because as of Monday it doesn't matter...


No, I didn't manage to get my ass fired, and the company isn't going anywhere, but we are doing a bit of a "restructuring." Normally this is a bad thing, and I'm not saying that this one is that fucking great. Some moron in upper management, who would be better off as an organ donor than as a human being, decided to have the "sales side" of the business restructured "to take advantage of changes in the market and our products." What this line of bullshit translates to is; "Hey, we have new people, and new shit, and I think it would be a good idea with these new people and new shit, to give everyone new jobs in order to just have everything new, because in this business, change is good."

What this fucktard does not realize is that in this business change is not good. New products are good. New people are sometimes necessary. But the people you already have, and the accounts that they manage, have relationships that make the business more efficient. These relationships are the reason that we are growing at 15% annually (the division I manage is at 25%, thank you very much). And it's not like I mean a workplace relationship...

Examples abound. One of the chains I work with has a guy that is on the same shooting team as I. Another has a buyer that goes out for Chinese for breakfast with me at least twice a month (and she buys, so it's not like she's going with for the fact that I can pay and write it off, we just share an enjoyment of Chinese food). Then there is the another that I snowboard with. One that I've known for YEARS, as I went to high school with her daughter. The list goes on and on. And the results of this are a business relationship that manages to work so smoothly that it amazes me. Sure there are policies and procedures that the companies have to follow, but for the most part when I want something done, it gets done... One question is asked; "Stormin, what have we got set up for this month?" And whatever I say we should do with the beer, we do, because I'm not going to suggest something stupid to my friends.

Fortunately this system is only slightly new... I still work with the same brands, just in new places and with new people. I had the good fortune of being able to keep some of the people that I already have worked with, and I know that they will bust their asses to make this new situation successful.


Aside from my whining, Dallas managed to pull off an overtime victory against Vancouver, and stay alive in the playoffs... Thank God.

I Know It's Just TV...

But the show 24 really makes me want to start executing traitors...

Not really in real life, just on the TV show.

Just to keep the rest of the double timing bastards in line. This show is backstab after backstab. It's ludicrous... I'm an addict...

Bad Intelligence.

This was originally titled "Why The European Media Can Kiss My Ass."

Mostly as a direct result of THIS.

Basically a diatribe about how the shooting yesterday in Virginia is a result of the culture and laws of America ALLOWING people to own firearms.

Now I am well aware that not everyone is a huge fan of firearms, and I respect this. I'm not a big fan of a lot of things, but it's not my place to tell other people not to do some things that are perfectly legal (or in some cases illegal, but going to happen anyways). But let's go into some of my favorite parts...


Brittan - "The Indepandant" wrote: "Despite the opposition of every police force in the land, Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favorite of violent criminals."

Of course, what these morons don't know about our laws can't hurt them. Or anyone else for that matter. The gun ban in 1994 banned cosmetic features, and limited magazine capacity to ten rounds. None of this would have changed anything about the Virginia shooting... The shooter used two firearms with (quoting a witness, the LEO's who responded, and cBS news), "multiple clips of ammunition." He had far more than ten rounds of ammunition, in multiple magazines (real word for a "clip").
Not that the gun ban in '94 did anything anyways. Quoting from a study, published in a Criminology journal in The Netherlands (not America, where we would be biased...): "We found no evidence of reductions in multiple-victim gun homicides or multiple-gunshot wound victimizations." (Journal Of Quantitative Criminology, v-17 N-1, 11-1-2004, p. 33)


Brittan - "The Times of London" wrote: "There is no doubt that access to rapid-action shotguns makes these events even more destructive,"

HE DIDN'T USE A SHOTGUN... But hey, why write a story AFTER learning those pesky facts...


France - "Le Monde" wrote: "This new tragedy presents a new opportunity for American public opinion to interrogate itself about a society which, as one of the students who survived Columbine said at the time, is very much responsible for what has happened."

This is total shit. Sure, we're going to take away all of the things that you can possibly harm yourself or another with... Knives are used in attacks three times as often as guns. Where's the cry for knife control? Cars kill (on average, every year) 10 times as many people as guns... Car Control? And he wasn't even AMERICAN, so how is our society at fault?


France - "Le Figaro" wrote: "legal changes were made to protect the producers and vendors of fire-arms from being held responsible for the actions of gun owners"

-A drunk driver hit me with a Chevy once... (True Story) I'm going to sue GM...

"while it is legal to carry a gun in 45 of 50 states, as long as the gun is not loaded"

-What they left out of this line is the words "in your vehicle..." It is legal to carry an unloaded gun in your vehicle. It isn't legal to carry a gun on a school campus in any state, even in your vehicle. The law here did nothing...

"At the end of 2004, the Republican-controlled Congress allowed a law to expire that prohibited the sale of semi-automatic and military weapons."

-And the shooter didn't use anything concerned by the ban, he used two handguns.


Italy - "Il Messaggaro" wrote: "an American suicide killer who, differently from Muslim killers, did not act out of religious motives but was driven instead by the unrest affecting broad layers of US society"

Funny, due to current reports, I would guess INSANE jilted lover. And more so, the guy was a South Korean National... Not even an American...


But my all time favorite-

Germany - "Bild" wrote: "Now we will probably begin discussing the overly lax gun laws in the United States. There, buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license."

-GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK... SERIOUSLY...
In order to get a Class 3 weapon (industry term for machine gun), you have to have NO criminal record. Ever, for anything. Pass an FBI background check, twice, three months apart. Pay for NFA "Tax Stamps" to accompany your rifle (these are $200 a piece, and all C3 firearms require multiple "stamps" in order to be purchased). Then pay for your automatic rifle. These range in price from $5,000 to $25,000+... Is this easier than getting a drivers license? I don't think so.



And it's not that I do not feel for the families of the victims. I will always wonder why the school did not lock down the campus immediately upon learning of the shooting in the dorms TWO FULL HOURS before the rest of the violence began. If I hear that two people have been shot dead in the dorms on campus, I sure as hell would be canceling classes.

Why did those students and professors even have class yesterday, after the events of that morning?

Healing

So I know that it has been no more than a week and a couple days, but I seriously am going nuts about my hand not healing faster...

The doctor said, "about three weeks" before I should even notice anything significant, but I seriously am going nuts here.

Why?

Because it is impossible to go through your day without using your right hand (if you are right handed), and every time I use it, the pain just makes it's way right back to the forefront of my mind. And it's not as if I can take my meds (Vicodin) and then drive around, so I just grin and bear it. Except here, where I whine about it...


Aside from that, today was just like any other day.

"It Doesn't Really Matter"

"To Meeeeee........"

The "Fuck You"s are generally reserved for THIS GUY, but this day is going to have to be an exception...


So I guess that the whole weekend was teams I love managing to win... Up until about five minutes ago, when the Dallas Stars managed to lose to the Vancouver Canucks in OT. The series is now Vancouver leading two games to one (and by no means over), and there's a lot of hockey left to be played. But at the same time, no one is happy after a loss.

Even more so, no one is happy after a loss that their roommate is gloating about because Vancouver is his "second favorite team."

A big FUCK YOU to him and his "second favorite team." How about not being a douche about MY FAVORITE TEAM losing.

This coming Seahawks season is going to be hell, I'm going to have to pick 15 teams that aren't the Colts, and create an order of favorites so that I can rejoice if they defeat the Seahawks.

WOOOHOOO!!!!

Lewis Hamilton is everything that anyone ever thought he could be and MORE.

The results are in from Bahrain, and while a better finish for Fernando Alonso would have been nice (5th), Lewis Hamilton finished in second and that's enough points to put him in a three way tie with Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso for first place in the points!

The rookie's third podium finish (in his first three races) is the first time that has ever happened.

McLaren also leads the Constructors Championship by 5 points!

I can't type coherently, I'm to AMPED about that race.

The Weekend Of Sports

So I have a long weekend of sports and "24" ahead of me. (And... I can hear Steph groaning from Oz)



-Hockey... It's the playoffs, and Dallas managed to win last night. 2-0 and the series is tied at one game a piece. Sadly enough, if Vancouver beats Dallas, I am actually going up to BC for the next playoff series. But, I'd much rather not go up, and have my team advance in the playoffs. I did make the decision last night that if Dallas makes it to the Stanley Cup finals, I am flying to Dallas to catch 2 games of the series.



-F1... HOLY CRAP, look at the rivalry between Ferrari and Mercedes Benz. This is INSANE.

Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:32.652
Lewis Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes - 1:32.935
Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari - 1:33.131
Fernando Alonso - McLaren Mercedes - 1:33.192

Until the race tomorrow morning (4:30AM local time), there will be significant debates about who was running what fuel loads and how the people qualified in the manner that they did. Did McLaren-Mercedes decide to run a light fuel load in Hamilton's car in and attempt to put him on the front row. Hopefully with nobody in front of him, the young Brit can drive away from the field, while Massa will be fending off advances from Alonso. This is assuming that the MB cars manage to jump off the line with any sort of speed.



-NASCAR... As much as I don't understand the circle track fanatics, I do have to keep up on the winners and losers because of work.



-Baseball... So, with the Mariners have EIGHT postponed games already this season, they play Texas this weekend at home (here in Seattle, where we were smart enough to put a roof on the damn stadium so that we can always play). They lost last night, dropping to 3-3 on the season, and they play again today at 12:55.

GO STARS!!!

The playoff beard is in full force (no matter how much they threaten me at work). The TV is cranked. High Def is AMAZING.

And here come the playoffs!!!


GO STARS!!!

Training Day

So today I had a trainee with me, and the day was a good time for all.

(Shoulda treated him like Denzel Washington did in that movie, but I didn't think of it until far to late in the day.)

Since I managed to fuck up my hand, and I'm pretty well useless, I guess they figured that they should just give me a helper and make my easy day even easier.

It went something like this:

-Come into work an hour and forty eight minutes late. It took me over an hour to get dressed for work, and traffic was bad, and I slept late. Hey, I'm in off my meds and in pain, deal with it.

-Go visit two key accounts, where a majority of the work had been done yesterday and my entire purpose was to buy coffee. Well, that and talk up Cinco de Mayo (dumbest stolen holiday ever)....

-Go visit one minor account, and find out that the person who would have been there to chat with was out sick. Get coffee for his second in command, and make him feel like a big shot.
_Cup Of Coffee: $3.75
_Hour Of My Time: More than a dollar, and less than a hundred.
_The guy who may be in charge one day thinking that you're the man: Priceless

-Spend two hours at lunch playing pool and killing time.

-Go visit a couple more people with one of our biggest accounts. They are always fun to go visit with, and so this was hardly work.

And after all that, I decided to call it a day. 7:48 to 4:45, which I guess is in fact a full day at work. I just feel like I didn't really do anything. The trainee that was with me asked if that was a normal day. I actually laughed at the question, and then explained to him that they somehow put him with me on what is the easiest day of the week, making it even easier. He was glad to hear that most days are busier...

He might have a future in this business.

Today At Work

So the day today was an absolute nightmare. It's not that we were overly busy, or that we had so much go wrong. Just the minor inconvenience of my hand aching every minute of the entire day.

I didn't feel comfortable driving on Valium, so I didn't take any. And I guess Tylenol doesn't work very well when your hand has a hole in it. So the entire day was one big experiment in pain tolerance.

Now that I'm home, and have the benefit of modern medicine on my side, I can't say that I feel half bad.

Typing Left Handed

Because if I tried to do it with my right hand, it would look like this.



So yesterday I was doing the dishes, and I reached into the sink to grab a glass. Apparently it had broken. The cut removed a large piece on the side of my right hand and happened to miss every tendon.

The photo is below, and it's pretty graphic. If you're squeamish, don't scroll down!

V I C T O R Y in Malaysia!

Fernando Alonso - 1st

Lewis Hamilton - 2nd

TOTAL DOMINATION BY MERCEDES - INEVITABLE...

Working On A Saturday

So I had to go into the office today, and spent the entire time putting together a plan with "That Guy", and I can't think of anything worse than going into the office on a day that I am supposed to be off to work with someone I can't stand.

I think that I am going to do my best to get this douche fired somehow.

To keep the bitching about "TG" short and sweet, NOTHING is right unless it's his way, and if you prove him wrong he makes excuses...


Stormin - "That's against WA state law. We can't do that..."

TG - "NO, the law doesn't cover sampling at promotions. It pertains to giving away whole beers for free."

Stormin - "No, the law doesn't care if you're giving away an ounce of beer or twelve, you can't do it for anything below cost."

TG - "You're wrong..."

Stormin - "Here's the law..."

TG - "Well I guess that they must have recently changed that law."


So my entire morning was spent dealing with that BS. I have no choice but to deal with him, so at least I can wine about it here. So scheming at getting him fired is plan A...

24

So I had avoided watching this show for what, six years now?


I saw the first three episodes while at a friends house and now I am hooked.


So I have my Blockbuster Online Pass set to select three DVDs in a row at a time, and I am determined to catch up on the show. Not that I will ever watch it on TV. I hate commercials during an intense program, and I'd much rather just wait for the DVDs. But I'll at least be through season six.

Back On Track

So the computer is back in the game!!!

I have no idea WTF was wrong, but I don't care.

Internet, GLORIOUS INTERNET, how I missed thee.

Still S L O W

So I have no clue as to why my internet service is slower than ever before. This shit is pissing me off. Remember dial-up internet, with the tying up of the phone line, and the slow ass data transfer rates? This is what it’s like at my house right now…

I don’t pay for dial-up, I pay for broadband, so why the fuck am I getting dialup speeds?

Today I am calling up those bastards and they are straightening this out, or I am getting a different service. For over $100 a month (including the TV, but it’s not as if I watch that a ton anyways) they should be here and taking care of this shit without any delay.

So aside from my whining about not being able to screw around on the internet when I get home…

Work has been a disaster and a half recently. Numbers are better than ever before, and for some reason the upper management is determined that they want to shuffle some people around and see if that has a positive effect. In talking to the people on the team I manage, I’ll admit, some of them are ready for a change. But I think that (at least in my opinion), they shouldn’t be interfering with the people that aren’t “ready for a change.” This includes ME… I don’t want shit to change right now. Numbers are great, the accounts and reps that I deal with are great, and I see no need to screw with success. So what do they (upper management) say? “Don’t worry about it Stormin, everyone is hesitant about change at first, but we’re sure that this is going to benefit everyone.”

How the fuck do they know that this is going to benefit anyone? Every single person that they move is going to have to deal with new people that they don’t know, in many instances displacing someone that was doing a great job. This helps out how?

Well apparently, a few people whining about work has led to them thinking that everyone wants/needs a change of scenery, and so now we have no say or input in this entire situation…

Fuck it, I’ll kick ass any place, any time...

As for the rest of it, this weekend is going to be kinda hectic. There’s a big barbecue out at a co-workers place, then we’re all going out to this crazy bar that they (my coworkers) are all obsessed with, and then we’re all crashing back at his place (we already assume that nobody but the unlucky few to DD will be capable of driving). I may volunteer to DD just because it has been one hell of a week, and I have no desire to go out and get drunk on Friday night. After typing that, it looks weird reading it. I think that’s probably the opposite of what most people would plan for their Friday night after a long week. The statement of the night is rarely; “Hey, I’ve had a long week, no drinks for me…” Whatever I do, I’m sure I’ll have a good time.

Then Saturday and Sunday, the entire day (both of them) is going to be spent painting a friends new house. I had ordered a few cases of “samples” so we could drink some new beers (ones that aren’t even on the market yet, but I’ll write more about them in a later post) and I think I am going to get screwed out of them. Which sucks, because it’s not like I can swing by the store and pick some up if I don’t get them from the office.

It’s 5:30, and I am wide awake. I think I’m going to take a shower, go get some coffee, and start the day off early (well, early for a Friday), which kinda sucks when I was out until 12:30 last night. Oh well, in early = out early. I may need a nap before the bar tonight anyways…

(To quantify SLOW, it took twenty minutes to load the requisite pages to post this on my blog. TWENTY MINUTES…)

S L O W

So I haven't really been reading blogs or doing anything online, because my cable modem has been slow as hell recently. And I don't mean a little slow. I mean this thing is taking forever to download anything from anywhere. Just to open this page and type up a blog entry took me about 3 minutes...

I tried to open all of the blogs in my sidebar (which really are daily reads) and I couldn't get anything to open without completely losing my patience. Getting this to open, just to explain why nothing else works, was one of the most taxing experiences of my day.

Aside from that, today itself was just one of those days where you can't wait for it to end. Work was nothing but hammering out numbers and dealing with BS from start to finish. I really just wanted to avoid everyone, but that ended up being impossible. At least I didn't run into "TG."

So now I have a few DVD's to watch, and I think that I'm just going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and staying away from anything resembling stress. Tomorrow night I have a big dinner for work that I have to attend, and a pretty hectic day before I even get to that...

The Omen

Is a RIDICULOUSLY creepy movie.

Seriously, FUCKING CREEPY...

I need to go watch something funny now...

That Guy (Part Two)

You all may remember my post about "That Guy" at work. The one that needs to one up everything that you do. And yes, it could be a female at your work, but "That Guy" exists in every workplace. If you don't know who "That Guy" is at work, you may be "That Guy." If that's the case, fuck you.

Well, as I said, this is the second in a series of posts about "That Guy." The first was on my old blog, just describing "That Guy," and pointing out his existence. This one goes into depth about "That Guy" at my work.

As of Monday morning, he apparently is a better handicapper than the people that Vegas casinos employ. In general conversation today, he managed to select EVERY baseball team that I did not as a winner in todays major sporting events. If he had done this BEFORE I was talking about my picks to the group, it would be one thing. Today he chose to deride every choice I made with the alternative AFTER I made it. As in, RIGHT AFTER. Then there was the NCAA Tournament... Case in point:

Stormin: "I think that the Gators have a fair shot at being the first team in a long time to repeat in the NCAA tourney tonight..."

That Guy: "NOT A CHANCE IN HELL... Ohio state is shooting better from the field, they have a more consistent team, oh and the little fact that nobody has repeated in like thirty years... ESPN simulated this one last night with EA's basketball game, and Ohio won."

So I sat their stunned and wondering where first to attack his collection of idiocy.
-First, the last team to repeat was Duke in the early nineties, and they did it with a similar group of returning players. That also happened to be one of the most amazing NBA draft classes in history, but what the hell, maybe he meant 15 years, half of thirty.
-Second, recently Florida has been shooting quite well. Over 60% from the field in their last game.
-Third, HE'S CITING A VIDEO GAME AS A REFERENCE... I VIDEO GAME... I beat Michael Schumacher in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix in F1: Championship Edition, that doesn't make me faster than him.

But I let it all go, and just said: "We'll know tonight... Want to put a couple bucks on it?" To which his immediate response was; "No, I don't bet on college basketball, it's to unpredictable."

HE JUST PREDICTED THE RESULT OF THE GAME!!!

As I said before this, unfortunately, is someone that I don't have a choice but to deal with. I think in the future I will just keep it to work, where my numbers crush his, and all he has is excuses...

(So the above was typed earlier, and then this addenda has been added.)

And now apparently, TG is an expert in predicting the NHL playoffs. When asked why I now have the beginnings of a beard, I explained to a coworker that it's kind of a hockey tradition to grow a beard for the playoffs. And while I just started this bad boy on Saturday, I will have it until the Dallas Stars are Stanley Cup Champions (or their season ends, which ever comes first)... So this brings up a voracious debate about hockey. A sport whereby TG has limited access and no genuine knowledge, but has selected a team and will stand behind them to the death. This team happens to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. Historically, sure they're a good team to back. Mario Lemieux was a great player, the team has a storied history that makes them a fan favorite, so OK.
He likes the team for none of these reasons. Apparently he just picked a random team, and right now they happen to be successful. They have more points than my Stars, but play in a different conference, and so the only way that they will face each other is in the final. But on and on he goes about their record and how they have more points. They've played each other once this season and Pittsburgh won by one goal, and I knew that (he did not obviously, or it would have been brought up) but I chose not to mention it.


So now I hate this guy even more, because he happens to be an ignorant douche that has no clue but talks a big game about EVERY game.


Go GATORS!!!!

ESP

So I hate the feeling that I get when I'm thinking about a song and then turn on the radio, and that song is already on. It's some creepy ESP, and for a brief moment I think that somehow my brain is affected by the radio waves...

Today that got taken to a whole new level. I had song pop into my mind (I'm not proud to admit what it was, but Biz Markie's "Just A Friend" is a CLASSIC!), and I turned on the radio. A song was just ending, and there was a couple of seconds between tracks and then BAAM! "Just A Friend" is on the radio.

This would not have bothered me, but near the end of the song, I thought "I wish that they would play 'Throw Some D's' next," and there it was, the next song. But that's not that big of a deal, it is a really popular song right now. I probably had a pretty good chance of finding that on the radio at any given moment these days.

And then at the end of the track, I just happened to push my luck, and took a shot in the dark...

"To Close" (Next) followed by "What Goes Around" (Timberlake) and then "Karma" (Lloyd Banks)...

I nailed five in a row, and promptly turned off the radio. I know it's coincidence (I don't believe in ESP being possible, just random chance), but it was just to weird of a coincidence for me to love the idea.

NHL

So as the hockey season comes to a close, the playoff positions are becoming pretty definite, and the teams that are in or out are decided.

As a result:

Sorry, Phoenix, Chicago, Los Angeles, Edmonton, Columbus, St Louis, Phillidelphia, Washington, Boston, and Florida. It looks like you just aren't going to make it.

My Dallas Stars are in (and may end up playing the Nashville Predators?) and the Vancouver Canucks are in too (even if they didn't beat the Flames Saturday)!